


First Day Jitters

by Merkwerkee



Category: Void Jumpers (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: His first day on the job, and Mac is pushed headlong into the deep end
Kudos: 1





	First Day Jitters

Sidhe Mac Aidiai brushed his hands nervously down his shirt to remove any wrinkles before knocking at the back door of Haven. It was his first day, and he was desperate to make a good first impression - Haven was his first job after nearly six months of unemployment.

The door popped open immediately to reveal a somewhat harrowed-looking man in a maroon button-down and black slacks. “Are you the new guy?” He asked without preamble, and all Mac could do was gulp and nod.

“Good, get in here, I need to get my daughter from daycare.” Without waiting for a reply the man turned and strode inside, and Mac scrambled to keep up.

Inside, there was a narrow bit of hallway that ended in a split between the kitchen and the front of the coffee shop. The walls of the hallway sported a number of coat hooks at various heights, some precariously tilted wire shelves, and a three-legged stool that looked like it had seen better days. The manager was already at the further end, poking his head into the kitchen and making some sort of enquiry that Mac wasn’t quite quick enough to hear. Whatever the answer was, the manager pulled back with a snort before abruptly turning back to Mac.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be rude even if I’m in a hurry. The name’s Matt Vancil, manager of this fine establishment, and normally I would show you around but - ”

“But you have to pick up your daughter from daycare,” Mac said, eager to show he’d been listening.

Mr. Vancil gave him a piercing look, like he couldn’t decide if Mac was trying to make fun of him or not, and Mac shrank under the scrutiny. “Yes, that. Which is why _**Rex**_ \- ” the last word was shouted towards the front of the store, and Mac jumped at the unexpected noise. “ - will be showing you the ropes instead. Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite.” He paused for a second. “…Much.”

Mac was saved from wondering what that meant by what was possibly the _strongest_ person he’d ever seen walking into the little hallway from the front of the café. Her bright red hair shone in the fluorescent lighting, and he could feel his eyes get bigger with each step she approached. She stopped in front of Mr. Vancil and crossed her arms, apparently not noticing Mac from where he stood in the shadow of the larger man.

“Well, what do you want? Baxter’s decided to start fiddling again, and I have a line of unhappy people waiting for their espressos.”

Mr. Vancil jabbed a careless thumb in Mac’s direction. “Look, I need you to look after the new guy and show him around until I get back with Claire - ”

“What happened to Claire?” Rex demanded, her tone sharpening, and Mr. Vancil sighed like his soul was slipping out of his body.

“She bit the caretaker again. I’m betting it’s the schedule I gave them - I give them the schedule for a _reason_ but do they listen to me? _Noooo_ I’m only her _father_ , I _can’t_ know her preferred schedule for the day, so of _course_ they get to ignore what I give them and are surprised when she bites them for acting out of turn.”

Rex reached over to pat him sympathetically on the shoulder while he rubbed a hand over his head. “Yeah, those people really haven’t got it figured out. Go on, I’ll hold down the fort for a bit and make sure the new kid stays out of trouble.”

Mac was torn between relief and annoyance at the grateful look Mr. Vancil shot at Rex before heading back out the door he’d just admitted Mac through. On the one hand, it was a distinct relief to know he wouldn’t be thrown into the deep end without any explanations with the expectation he’d do everything perfectly the first time. On the other hand, there was the insinuation that he’d get into trouble if left unsupervised - which, while probably true, was mildly insulting when explicitly stated.

Still, he didn’t say anything as Rex turned to give him a slow once-over, just straightened up and tried to arrange his face into an expression of _“I am very happy to have a job here and am eager to start”_ rather than _“I am desperate and pathetically eager to please.”_ He wasn’t quite sure if he managed it, but Rex simply snorted and gestured for him to follow her.

“C'mon kid, I’ll show you have things work around here.”

Without waiting to see if he’d follow, she started back down the corridor and turned towards the kitchen. He hurried after her, cursing under his breath as he tripped on someone’s bag that was jutting out from the wall a bit. It was much more solid than it looked, and clanked ominously when it moved. Plus now his toe really hurt as he rounded the corner and nearly ran into Rex, who was standing in the door leading to the kitchen with an amused expression.

“Easy, kid, we’re not going to fire you on your first day.” She patted his shoulder with a firm clap, nearly buckling his knees with the force of it. She was much stronger than she looked - and she looked plenty strong.

So saying, she turned back to the kitchen and pushed the doors open. A waft of chocolate-scented air swirled out, along with a gust of warmth. Mac wasn’t hungry, but his traitorous mouth decided to start watering anyway; whatever was cooking in the kitchen smelled so good. A tall man wearing a white shirt, a hairnet, and a chef’s apron stood in front of some industrial sized ovens that were apparently the source of the wonderful smell as he checked a tray full of pale cookies.

Rex gestured at the man. “New kid - what is your name anyway? - this is Puq Haugen. He and his brother Sam run the back of house back here. Puq’s the baker - he makes all the desserts and pastries we sell out of the case in the front. _Sam_ ,” she raised her voice on the last word, and a clatter of dishes heralded a somewhat shorter and thinner version of the baker wearing a grubby grey top and black pants walking out of what was clearly the dishpit area, “is the guy who washes all the dishes. Without him, he’d all be up to our asses in shit.”

The man in the grubby shirt gave an ironic bow as his brother put the pan of cookies back in the oven and started another timer. “Yep. That’s me. Dish cleaner extraordinaire. _Best_ man for the job, and all that.”

Sam’s voice was bitterly sarcastic, but his brother laughed as he approached the group and slung an arm over his shoulders. “Don’t mind Sam,” Puq advised, apparently noting Mac’s wide eyes. “He’s just mad because someone managed to glue a fork to a plate earlier and nearly broke the wash machine.” Sam seemed about to make a comment, but Puq’s hand snaked up to cover his mouth. “Nope, that’s the real reason and I know it! Don’t worry, I’ll give him a cookie from the latest batch and that’ll sweeten him right up,” Puq said conspiratorially to Mac, and Sam threw up his hands and stomped back into the dish area while Mac tittered nervously.

“So, um, you two are brothers?” he asked, desperate to clear the lingering sourness in the air.

Puq nodded, grinning hugely, before leaning forward again. “Hey, do you want to know something that’ll really spin your noodle? _I’M_ the older brother!”

Laughing, the baker turned away and began adding ingredients to a truly enormous bowl. Rex patted Mac on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about those two. It might not seem like it, but they really do love each other. Puq was down for three days once with a cold, and Sam nearly fretted himself to flinders over not being by his brother’s side after just the first day. The Captain sent him home and told him not to come back unless it was both of them.”

“‘The Captain’?” Mac questioned warily, and Rex waved a careless hand.

“It’s what everyone calls Matt Vancil because one of his favorite catchphrases is "I run a tight ship around here,” the big softy.“ Rex snorted, and turned to march out of the kitchen, her long strides eating up the ground much faster than Mac could walk and he ended up half-jogging after her.

Back through the doors of the kitchen, out to the little cross hallway, and then just before they walked into the front of the shop, Mac noticed a picture of a woman with a sequined frame hanging by the doors to the café proper. "Who’s she?” he called, catching Rex just before she pushed to doors open to the front. “Is she Mister…the Captain’s wife?”

Rex checked at the door and turned, laughing when she caught sight of the picture. “No, she’s a corporate _bitch_ named Shavanaugh who likes to make trouble every now and again by coming in with "surprise” inspections and new “regulations” that aren’t actually a part of the rule book.“ Mac made a puzzled noise, and Rex gestured to the laminated poster directly to the left of the picture. "We’re a franchised offshoot of The Company Coffee, see, and she’s some corporate bigwig who can’t _stand_ us. So we have the picture up so everyone knows what she looks like whenever she takes it into her head to come around and start nitpicking.”

That made sense, except - “Then why the sequins?” He asked in bewilderment, and Rex cackled.

“Take a closer look. They’re novelty sequins I got from a buddy’s stag party.”

Mac looked closer, and sure enough the sequins were in the shape of tiny dildos. He felt his eyes get even wider. “And Mister - The Captain -”

“He’s the one who suggested it in the first place,” Rex responded gleefully, her grin stretching from ear to ear, and Mac laughed incredulously. To put dildo sequins on a picture of someone from corporate who hated your guts was hilarious but also possibly a bad move if she ever saw it.

He didn’t have any more time for questions, however, as Rex pushed her way through the doors leading to the front of the shop and he was obliged to follow her.

Haven was a cozy little café located not too far from the university grounds. The walls were paneled in warm wood and students of all stripes huddled close together around the outlets and fireplace. Bags of schoolwork turned the floor into a hazardous maze navigated best in mincing steps, and the whole place hummed with conversation. The counter that the doors let out behind was a clean white, leading to a glass case that was remarkably free from fingerprints and - currently - a little on the empty side. Dominating one end of the counter was a complex system of sleek metal tubes, whirling dials, hissing noises, and ominous jets of steam.

Standing in front of that imposing edifice was a young man with a brace on one knee. He was handsomely rugged, a short beard and tousled brown hair complementing the strongest jawline Mac had ever had the fortune to witness, and he had a look of triumph on his face as he turned to look at Rex.

“ _Hah!_ See? _Told_ you I could fix it, and everyone got their espressos in half the time it would’ve taken the original machine to brew them.”

Rex rolled her eyes in response. “Yeah, _after_ waiting _double_ the amount of time it would have taken to get the machine started normally, Baxter! _Think_ before you start a project, nerd.”

The man had the grace to look contrite, and Rex turned back to Mac. “Meet Baxter Brautigan. He’s our resident egghead and the only one allowed to work the espresso machine anymore.”

Baxter looked thoughtful. “Well - ”

Rex rounded on him. “Nope. Nuh-uh. The damn thing nearly cooked all the flesh off Avery’s hand the last time he messed with it; _you_ upgraded it, _you_ have to work it. At least until you can make it safe for us non-engineers to touch again, though I doubt OSHA will ever approve of your designs.”

Baxter deflated and mumbled something Mac couldn’t hear, and Rex tugged him over to the counter. “This is where you’ll spend most of your time working. Here’s the menu for keying most things into the system - you can use my employee number until the Captain gets back to give you your own. Prices are on the board behind you, and we don’t accept foreign currencies. Any questions?”

“Mac,” he replied, and she raised an eyebrow inquiringly. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Sidhe Mac Adiai, but everyone calls me Mac. You, er, asked for my name earlier…” he trailed off in embarrassment as Rex continued to just look at him for a long moment.

Finally a smile broke through her stern look and she nodded as the bell above the door tinkled. “Well then, Mac, you ready to help your first customer?”

Mac nodded, and turned to face the two people who had just walked in. One was a tall, gangly man with hair almost as messy as Baxter’s and jug ears; he walked a step to the left and behind easily the most beautiful woman Mac had ever seen. Her hair was brown and just wavy enough to catch the perfect highlights from the indirect lighting above her. Her brows were perfect over blue eyes, and her lips were a perfect red bow.

Mac was brought out of la la land when Rex kicked him discreetly but painfully in the ankle. “Stop drooling over her,” she commanded out of the side of her mouth. “That’s Bryn Cosaint, the ambassador’s daughter, and the man with her is her bodyguard, Tag. He _will_ take you out without a second thought if you try and come on to her.”

Mac felt his heart sink. “Really?” he asked back, not bothering to keep his voice down.

The question was a bit louder than the general hubbub, and the gangly man looked up in surprise - only to immediately trip over someone’s bag. He went down in a heap, papers flying everywhere, and the general noise level rose several notches as the students whose papers now decorated the floor began berating the apologetic-looking Tag as the latter tried desperately to pick up the mess without messing up anything and Bryn stepped in to defend him.

Rex snorted. “Nah, I’m only making fun. They’re just regular folks, really - but seriously, hit on customers _outside_ of working hours.”

Mac nodded and turned to take the first order of his new job.

He rather thought he was going to like it here.

**Author's Note:**

> It's pronounced "shee Mac Ay-dee-ay"


End file.
